Athletics: Thorburn trims 2min from Karetai record

"That was fun," Dougal Thorburn said of his record-breaking run in the 15.5km Karetai Challenge yesterday.

Thorburn, since his return to Dunedin, is fast becoming a running legend around Otago.

Last year's Moro Half-marathon champion had spent most of the summer preparing for the Coast to Coast in which he finished runner-up in the two-day section.

In the past two weeks, he has won the Papatowai Challenge (also in record time) and was the only athlete finishing under 15min when he won the Otago 5000m championship last weekend.

He was unable to claim the Otago 5000m title as his registration with Wellington will not expire until the end of the month.

But Thorburn and his immediate rival yesterday, Mike Wakelin, were not strangers, as Wakelin was based in Wellington until two years ago and the two would often compete against each other.

"Dougal just took off at the start," Wakelin said afterwards.

"I wanted to keep him in my sights but found myself wanting for a pair of binoculars or something."

Thorburn, who usually does not mind downhill running, found the run down Highcliff Rd yesterday a bit of challenge, possibly because he was still recovering from the Coast to Coast event.

The Lin Raynor-coached athlete wasted little time putting the hammer down from the start to master the course in 55min 27sec, 2min 5sec under the record set last year by David McKay, of the United States.

"This type of race suites me, I think," Thorburn said of the up-hill start at Sheil Hill.

"Although it was hot, there was a really nice draught off the sea going up the Karetai Track.

It was real refreshing."

Another runner to find the conditions hot but the breeze up Karetai refreshing was the winner of the open women's section, Louisa Andrew.

Andrew (35), who took up running seriously last September, after a couple of years of jogging for health, has had an immediate impact on the local scene, winning the women's section of the 23km Peninsula Challenge and finishing runner-up in the Papatowai Challenge two weeks ago.

Andrew said afterwards she found the heat from the sun just as much a challenge as the course itself.

"I prefer it to be a little cooler," she said.

Also featuring in the results was New Zealand ultra-distance representative Val Muskett, who won the New Zealand 100km title at Taupo in 9hr 38min three weeks ago.

Yesterday, she finished fourth in the women's section in a time of 1hr 21min 310sec.